Canada Reads

Canada Reads is back. Five panelists, well-known Canadians, each promote a book as The One Book That Canadians Should Read This Year. (Yes, the capitalization is deserved.) In 2012 all of the books are non-fiction, an interesting twist.

I’ve always listened on the radio and enjoyed the debates, the wit, the drama. This year I’m watching them. And I’m not alone.

I woke with a horrible day brewing in my head and I’m working to keep it in my head. On the outside, I plan to have a good day. As part of that plan I started watching the video replay of yesterday’s kick-off and hoped that the kids might just wander by and become transfixed.

It worked. The personalities of the debaters really add to the appeal, but there is something simply compelling happening on screen as intelligent people discuss intelligent books. I’m happy to watch as passionate people open my kids’ minds. I can see them think differently about books than they might on their own as they call out critiques of the arguments. I can see them wonder what it means to be a ‘Canadian book’ – written by a Canadian author? set in Canada? important for Canadians to read? I can tell that they are thinking of books with a broader scope than books that entertain vs books that Mama assigns.

We are currently waiting with impatience for today’s episode to come online as watch on demand. You see, by the time we’d finished yesterday’s, today’s was already underway and both of them utterly rejected the idea of starting partway through. They’re hooked.